where it's sharp, it is very sharp Jeff.
Without any tech/exif info I cannot comment on dof.
Would definitely crop in a bit tighter to delete the left oof bloom
Thanks for looking. I intentionally shot it this way, with the OOF bloom on the left as part of the composition! I felt it helped to balance the one on the right and give the composition as a whole balance, as well as serving as an endpoint of the arc described by the leaves, the blooms and the critter. It's back to the drawing board... Thanks again.
I wouldn't say back to the drawing board! There are many great aspects to this photo, as Dave pointed out. I would look at it as one more opinion to keep in mind, one more aspect of comp to be cognitive of. These things all help us. One thing to keep in mind with comp is simple, simple and simple. This is still a pleasing image.
Pleasing light, nice color, not oversaturated. A fine example, and you realized it too how delicate the subject is and how little it takes to take away from it. OOF items can easily dominate, my eye tells me the one on the right is most distracting of the two because it appears as more just a 'hot spot' offering not color or detail. I am comfortable with the one on the left, my choice or suggestion would be to look at this by cropping up from bottom and cutting off the right OOF bloom, thus ending just below the bloom above it. Then possibly bringing in from the left to a comfort level balance.
Flowers let alone flowers with insects offer numerous compositional opportunities, we all see them a bit different, you have a very nice shot here, the final is up to you
When I took a short course in composition (some years ago) my teacher always used to say: "Make it simple!", and I always try to follow that advice. Your shot is very nice, well balanced and nicely lit and framed (eventhough the subject looks too centered). However if you call this shot "A butterfly" the viewer expect a butterfly to be the focal point of the image. IMHO there are some distracting elements (the eyes always go to the brightest part of the image: the OOF flower in the bottom left of the image and the flower on the right side). So my advise would be to try to get closer to the subject (this makes the viewer more emotionally involved in the image), trying to isolated the butterfly from the bg, in order to make it stand out. Very simple.
Now, if you had called this shot "Flowers with a butterfly" I wouldn't hade made these comments.
I hope you take this in its intended contest, which is to give you some honest advice (from sombody that has been shooting butterflies for many years) with the intent to develope your own skill and taste. After all composition is a matter of personal taste.
Keep shooting, and keep posting. This is the place were I've learnt a lot.
Socrate
I like seeing the context. My eyes enjoyed moving around the frame taking in all of the elements, then returning to the butterfly. After a very long winter, I appreciated all of the color.
Carole